Dana is in Santa Barbara! She talks about her impressions of
Santa Barbara, including the spectacular landscape and climate.
Dana also dicusses the venue and how sympathetic it is to the play
and how vocal and enthusiatic the audience are.

What are the venue and the performing space
like?

It’s a university, but it’s not a university like you know it in
the UK, it’s an enormous campus right by the beach, with a lagoon,
and there are more bicycles around the building than you have ever
seen. Where we are performing, it’s a modern building but there is
also something very traditional about it. The building is a circle
but it looks from a distance like it’s got an undulating thatched
roof. And then when you get inside it is a big lecture hall which
seats about 800 people with the stage at the front and the seating
is raked up the back. So it’s quite a long space but the sound
travels really well; it’s not like being in a field with no trees
to buffer the noise and your voice disappearing. When we were last
on tour, 99 percent of the venues were outdoors, with just the odd
indoor venue like Neuss in Germany (a replica of the Globe). This
venue is very sympathetic to the play; the set looks great in
there. There is not much space backstage, it’s very much like a tin
of sardines, so there were lots of fun and games on the first
night. Our dress rehearsal back at the Globe was luxurious but
where we are now there is no room to put the tables outside so they
are in the tent, we are in the tent, all the props are in the tent,
the door is on the tent – so it’s an exercise in backstage
negotiation as well as getting on at the right time and saying all
the right bits in the right order.

What is it like doing Shakespeare in that particular
venue and for that particular audience?

The audiences are very vocal so when they like something they
let you know. I think on the first night we had a great time but
obviously we were still getting used to the space and a different
kind of audience if you will. So last night we were a bit more
settled and we had time – and the way the venue echoes, if there is
going to be a big laugh, you have to let it really die otherwise it
hangs in the air and you can’t really hear the next line; and some
of the story gets lost and you don’t want your audience to get lost
by not being clear. But they are really up for it and they get on
board really quickly and it is a really nice atmosphere. And the
houses have been good, the audience are really responsive and
everyone we have spoken to said how much they enjoyed it. And the
humour seems to be coming across and the language and locality of
the story so that’s what you want.

How are you finding the travelling process so
far?

I think it’s taken us a little bit of time to get used to the
time difference; I think we are still a bit on UK time. So by
midnight every night I am completely exhausted. But when you travel
all this way you do get the sunshine, so it’s quite weird knowing
that back home it’s November and it is cold and, although it’s also
November here, when we’re not rehearsing there is sunshine and it’s
warm and you’re not wearing a coat in the day; so it’s quite a
treat to have that. And I think we’re all a bit tired but we’re all
surviving and it’s sort of best foot forward and on we go. We are
really well looked after so that always helps with the travelling
and we’ve not had to carry the set across, we’ve just had to get
ourselves from A to B. So it’s been an adventure.

Have you had any free time to explore Santa
Barbara?

We arrived on Saturday evening and then Sunday was a day off so
we all went into the main centre of Santa Barbara. We are in Goleta
and where we are staying is like being on a motorway but it’s the
most well equipped and serviced motorway ever. It’s not like in the
UK where if you were in a hotel on a motorway then there would be
nothing for miles around, literally within five minutes walk there
is a whole community and you can get everything from your groceries
to your toenails painted, a back massage and a chocolate emporium,
which I haven’t visited yet but I would like to. So we are there
but on our day off we all went into the main town of Santa Barbara
which is really quite beautiful and there is an art gallery and a
museum and then you are right by the beach. So we all had a wander
down and walked to the end of the pier. And wherever you look there
are mountains; so far in Santa Barbara you always see the
mountains. The landscape is so vast and that’s not something I’m
used to being in the UK. So it’s getting used to the sheer size and
scale of everything here, both manmade and natural .

Often we’ll start with a company warm up and then we’ll either
move on to doing some music, or some of the percussion calls or
some of the music calls. We tend to try and do something at the
beginning of the day that involves everybody and also wakes us all
up, so it’s a coordination skill; brain in gear. And then before we
start any scenes – so there will be a scene booked in for an hour
and a half or something – we’ll all just walk around and do a line
run so that everybody has had it once in their head to get you
started and then we’ll get up on the stage. And usually Rebecca
just lets us play the first time and watches and then we take from
that what works and what doesn’t. And then after lunch we might try
and put together what we’ve done in the morning, run it, see where
the holes are. The last 45 minutes of the day we’ll run what we’ve
worked on that afternoon, so it kind of goes through a period of:
an hour to learn and work it out, half an hour to run what we’ve
just learnt; an hour to learn and work it out, half an hour –
that’s the theory but obviously costume fittings happen, bits and
bobs happen, music calls take longer than we think, or we forget a
load of stuff that we’ve been taught.

How does the rehearsal process differ for this tour
compared to the previous you did?

Last time that we came it was an absolutely blank canvas and
even though nothing is really set in stone there are a couple of
scenes that are set pieces. And the first year we went through the
process of trying every conceivable combination, option and way
round it. We’ve only got 8 actors playing 19 parts, there are going
to be some things that work a certain way better than others. So
things like the door scene and the final scene are less stressful
because we’re not trying to problem solve or work it out, we’re
just relearning or re-teaching it to the new people. The other
differences are that obviously there are different people so the
scenes have a different energy and, you know, you’re playing with
new friends, so you play slightly different games when you’re on
stage and everything’s open and up for grabs. And you can spend
more time on those scenes because you’re not having to spend 3
days, which is, I think, how long we spent on the door scene,
trying to work out how we were going to do it. So I think there was
a lot of trial and error, whereas now we’ve got something and it’s
not that it can’t be altered or enhanced, but at least we’ve got
the framework, whereas before we had to build something. It’s
interesting sometimes in the rehearsal room, in those moments
you’ll hear someone say, “Oh, well we could try -” And Rebecca can
say, really confidently, “We did, we did actually try that and
unfortunately when you get to this point it breaks down because of
that -” You know, everybody still gets listened to but at least you
can speak with some authority on something that’s not going to
work, whereas the first year it was just like, “Well how do we
know?” So those things are different.

Have you done any specific text work for your
character?

My character seems - I’m terrified of saying an absolute and
then being proved wrong, but as far as I’m aware everything she
says rhymes. She’s very sort of finished and complete so there are
lots of clues there. But I think if you are doing Shakespeare, you
have to do some text work because there is so much for you in
there, if you don’t you’re denying yourself a massive chunk of
advice and information from the man who wrote it. I remember the
first year, I initially failed to spot these four line thoughts
with my scene with Antipholus; the sort of love scene. And once you
see it, you can’t believe you missed it, but it’s sort of: four
lines and thought, another four lines and thought – and I missed
that and if you miss that you miss the sense and then you get
yourself into a horrible knot. And that seems very different this
time, I think because I came to day one of rehearsals with just
that kind of technical knowledge, so I started from there rather
than from the more muddy place. I suppose it’s like dating, you’re
the same person but whoever you go on a date with you change, or
you’re trying to change them, completely in response to who you’re
with; every relationship, every major relationship I have in the
play is with someone different this time.

Have you done any specific movement work for your
character?

We did quite a lot at drama school about different elements and
different animals. So, just for my own piece of mind, I try and
think about whether the character is a combination of different
elements and what kind of animal. Because obviously your posture
and the way you handle your props helps. And Rebecca had talked
about opposite energies that Luciana and Adriana have, especially
in the first scene when they are waiting for lunch. So I’ve kind of
gone for a very serene, slow, air quality, I suppose, to
counterbalance with Adriana’s agitation in the heat. And she’s got
a really fast, fiery temperament and tempo so to be in response to
that. It’s like finding your place in the scene, so, where
possible, I’ve tried to go for this because it says in the text,
Antipholus talks about, “the Grace” and “her fair sister” and “the
gentle discourse”, so I’ve tried to use those so that when he says
them the audience aren’t thinking, “Well, he’s lying because she’s
lumbering round the stage, banging her feet, jumping -” you know,
to make it make sense. And it’s sort of quite a nice quality.

It’s a play of mistaken identity. There are two sets of twins.
There’s a lot of hilarity. It’s about finding the other half of
yourself and becoming complete, whether that’s in a matrimonial
sense or in a personal fulfilment sense.

What is it like returning to this production after 2
years?

It’s really exciting because you never really feel like you get
as far as you want to get with a role and you very rarely get a
chance to have another go at it with the benefit of hindsight and
time. And it’s nice because there are some familiar faces and also
some new faces and that freshness means you don’t know where you’re
going to go with it. It’s not just coming back and redoing, it’s
rehearing and relearning; reinventing. On the one hand we’re sort
of doing it again but on the other hand it’s nice to be able to do
it a new as it were. I feel pleased because obviously the rehearsal
period is shorter so it’s nice to have a few memories and a little
bit of experience. I’m not coming to it fresh and I don’t envy the
new gang for that.

What do you remember of Luciana in the production 2
years ago?

This idea that she speaks with only the authority that the
completely inexperienced have. She’s not lived enough to realise
how little she knows, so she’s at that unfortunate stage where she
thinks she knows everything and everyone else knows she doesn’t
know anything so nobody listens to her. That’s something that’s
stayed throughout, even though there are obviously going to be
changes this time, that’s in the script, it’s there for you, you
know, black and white. So I remember that, that’s unquestionable
because she just has no experience at all of life. Because it would
be really easy to make her quite tyrannical and bossy but it’s an
empty bossiness which is less powerful and threatening. The
audience want her to have a happy ending as well and not just think
“oh, here she is again, talking a load of nonsense.” Yes, it’s
holding onto her inexperience, I suppose.

Do you think about a back-story for your
character?

Rather than to get knowledge, for me it’s to remove black holes
so then you feel less exposed and fraudulent when you’re up there.
And also, so everything you do now is informed by something that
happened to you at some point. So if nothing has ever happened to
you, you’re a bit empty. You know, I’m from Leicester but I don’t
walk around all the time acting like I’m from Leicester, but I know
I am, so it’s just in me. And that making sure that you know the
answers to what’s gone before, it just helps you. Whether it makes
any difference from an audience’s point of view in performance who
knows, but for me it’s something that I like to do. There’s no real
clue to our parenting, what’s happened to us. I mean it looks like
the Duke is definitely Adriana’s Ward because he’s arranged the
marriage for her, so there’s perhaps the lack of direct parenting;
it’s not as clear cut as mum and dad were on a shipwreck, that kind
of thing, I grew up without a twin, or anything like that. There
are clues in there but the back-story isn’t written for us, it’s up
to us to invent and create.

What relationships are important to your
character?

The sort of primary relationship is with her sister; that kind
of sibling rivalry and fighting for supremacy, or even just to get
your voice heard. Adriana is very much the alpha female, if there
is such a thing. So that’s the central relationship. And then my
relationship with Antipholus of Ephesus and without realising then
with the Syracusian Antipholus, but I only think I have a
relationship with one of them until the very end. And then with
Dromio because he’s probably the only person who I have any status
with so it’s my one chance to actually be high status. You know, I
don’t think Luciana’s naturally that violent but everyone else is
getting to smack each other about and no one listens to me so I can
just get a bit of kick the cat syndrome. So those three would be my
core relationships in the play.